Calendar Nails! - Burns Night

Hey guys!

Ready for some seasonal nail art?!? I am! In a bid to improve my nail art skills, I shall be creating manicures based on calendar holidays, as and when they occur this year. The first one up this year is Burns Night. 

Burns Night is a celebration of the life and poetry Scotsman poet Robert Burns. This event is celebrated on the anniversary of his birthday, the 25th of January. Traditionally, a Burns night supper would include a meal of haggis, neeps and tatties. Yum.

For my take on Burns Night nail art, I opted for a tartan print:-

 

I used MAC Shirelle for the red base color, then I used my Rio Beauty striping pens to do the green and blue stripes. I really wanted to use my gold nail art pen for the dots (to imitate threads), but it was paying hide and seek, so I used my yellow pen instead. My nail art pens are getting kinda lumpy now, its maybe time to invest in some new ones!

I want to do this tartan mani again, but next time, I want to do a pastel tartan print. The new Butter London collection is something I particularly have my eye on!!

FUN FACT! Haggis isn't a real animal. The truth is far worse. It is a meal consisting of sheep's heart, liver and lungs (known as pluck) minced with onion, suet and spices, which is then encased in sheep's stomach and simmered for hours. Ooh err.

Next Calendar Nails!:- 10th February: Chinese New Year. 

New York Color (NYC) Expert Last Nail Polish

Woo woo! The budget beauty quest rolls on...

Today I have NYC's Expert Last Nail Polish to show you. After really enjoying wearing NYC's Rock Muse Smoky top coat, I was expecting good things from NYC's more expensive polish line. When I say expensive, I mean it's still only £2.49. Their Quick Dry color range is even cheaper at £1.79 a bottle, but more on that to come!

When browsing the Expert Last polishes in Superdrug, I really wanted the glitter top coat, named Gramercy Glitz. I then picked a soft nude pink polish which I could layer the top coat on to. Here's my combination:-

Base color: Oh SoHo Sweet

Glitter top coat: Gramercy Glitz

I never usually go for nudes, much less sheer nudes! That said, I love how squishy Oh SoHo Sweet looks on the nail. Here you see three coats, and there is still some VNL (visible nail line!) I could have applied a fourth layer, but I really don't mind seeing a little bit of nail line, and I didn't want to make the polish look thick/clumpy.

Gramercy Glitz is a fine multi colored glitter suspended in a transparent pink base. I loved how it looked delicate both in the bottle and on the nail, kinda like angel wings. I want to experiment further with Gramercy Glitz and maybe sandwich it with a chunkier glitter in a jelly sandwich mani. Oh yeah!

The formula on both of these was good. Considering how sheer Oh SoHo Sweet is, application was good. I didn't find it to streak, nor did it bald in places, which I sometimes find in sheer polishes. The polishes were also quick to dry which is always a bonus.

You know what? I may just be a nude convert. I had hella lots of compliments at work when wearing this mani today! I will also be checking out the other colors in NYC's Expert Last range. If I remember correctly, I'm sure I saw a pistachio green...

New York Color (NYC) HD Color Eyeshadow Quad

Hey guys!

My budget beauty quest continues, and today I have a review of NYC's HD Color Eyeshadow Quad in NY Tribute. I picked this palette because I thought the pinks and purples would suit my green eyes.

Beautiful colors, non? Look at the shimmer in the light purple! 

Some application tips, which I roughly followed.

Here's the look I created:- 

When I first opened this palette and swiped the shadows with my fingers, I was impressed. they seemed nicely and soft, and full of pigment. However, this soft texture was the product's downfall, as the shadows literally crumbled upon application. Fallout, was unfortunately, a huge problem with these. 

In addition to this, as you can see in the photos, the pigment turned out to be not so great on these. I found myself having to use a lot f the darkest purple color to even make it look like I had some eyeshadow on! The best shadow was probably the highlighter shade, as it looked sheer, and not at all chalky.

So overall ,this product wasn't the greatest. In truth, the application was a nightmare. It took me a long time to build up these shadows due to the fallout and lack of pigment. It's such a shame, because if the shadows were pigmented, then the collection of colors would have been really nice. Boo.

The HD Color Eyeshadow quad is £2.99, and is available from Superdrug.

Budget Beauty: NYC Rock Muse Smoky Top Coat

After all the black glitter I've been rocking on my nails lately, you'd think I'd be bored of it. However, there's something about a particular type of nail polish that spins me out each and every time...

... the jelly finish. 

Oh yeah! NYC's Rock Muse top coat is a jelly all right! They describe it as a top coat which is how I've used it in these pictures. I chose to layer it over a dark grey No7 nail polish called Grey Matter. Have  a look at how gorgeous this polish is. 

 Rock Muse Smoky Top coat has small silver glitter particles and large

hexagonal silver particles suspended in a blackened jelly base.

I love how this polish looks, especially when I did a second coat, making the silver glitter particles in the coat underneath look all smoky due to the jelly finish of the polish. I would love to reswatch this, not as a topcoat, but as a standalone polish so I could really see layers of gorgeous cloudy glitter. 

And the price? £1.99. Yep, this little gem cost lest than a bus ticket in Birmingham! The next time you're in Superdrug, pick this little fella up. I swear, you won't regret it!

Budget Beauty: A Blogger's Quest

Hey y'all!

Blogging about beauty products is my passion (hence the reason you're reading this!) I seriously love ever aspect of it- shopping for it, the excitement of trying something new, taking photos of it, and then eventually, roadtesting it!

One particular realm of beauty products that has always appealed to me is the high street. High street cosmetics (drugstore for all my American readers) are an absolute joy for me. They're inexpensive, they're always on some sort of offer, and sometimes they're pretty damn good. However, some are real stinkers that always leave me feeling kinda... cheated. Annoyed that I'd spent money (even though it was only £3) on something that would never see the light of day again in my beauty storage.

I believe that the UK high street has an excellent range of cosmetics. So broad is it, that I see broad groups and even niches being nicely filled by the brands that are on offer. I have decided therefore, to break down our high street cosmetics in chunks, and for the next couple of months I will be focusing on the budget range of cosmetic brands. Just to be clear, I have determined what I see budget as: £6 and under for the items within that particular brand. Broadly speaking, a foundation is normally the most expensive item within a line of cosmetics, so if the foundation is more than £6, it ain't budget, baby!

So, here are the brands I'm going to be investigating...

• New York Color (NYC) Cosmetics
• Natural Collection
• Collection (formerly Collection 2000)
• Miss Sporty
• Make Up Art (MUA) Cosmetics
• Barry M 

I'm going to be trying one item from every line within these brands, i.e. one liquid liner, one kohl liner, for example. I'm going to review them fully, with pictures, swatches and creating looks using the products. Moreover, I'm going to tell you if they're any good. Each month I'll be focusing on one brand in particular, to keep it simple. At the end of these six months, I'm going to hold a Budget Beauty Awards, recommending hero products and advising you to steer clear of the stinkers.

Sound like fun? Hell yeah, it does! I can tell you now that January will see me focusing on New York Color Cosmetics, a brand which is exclusive to Superdrug. 

Let's go!

Swatch & Compare- Black Glitter Polishes: Part 1

Remember how in my last post on 17 Cosmetic's Dazzle the Night swatches, I said that I had a Rimmel nail polish similar to the Glimmer in the Night polish? Well, I thought I'd do a little Swatch & Compare!

And I was wrong about them being similar.Oh so very wrong....

On pinky and index finger: Glimmer in the Night

On MIDDLE finger only: Rimmel Precious Stones in Diamond Dust.

Yeah, that's right, only the middle finger is the Rimmel polish. As you can see, it is nothing like the 17 Cosmetics one. Diamond Dust is more of a grey colour, the silver glitter in it is much finer, and it has HOLOGRAPHIC particles in it. I like it a lot. So much in fact, that I had previously bought a China Glaze polish that was an EXACT dupe. 

Yep, silly old me. In all of the pictures in this post, on my wedding finger is China Glaze Some Like It Haute from the Eye Candy collection. 

Although these two are identical once dried on the nail, the formula of these two was dramatically different. Some Like It Haute was thin and runny and required three coats, whereas Diamond Dust was thick and required only the two coats. Both dry matte as you can see, so a top coat is essential for these thirsty polishes. I haven't applied top coat just so you can see that these two are dupes. 

What do you think of these polishes? Now I know that the 17 Cosmetics Glimmer in the Night polish is unique in my collection, I'm really kinda gutted that it is a LimEd. Boo. 

P.S Sorry for the dry cuticle situation in this post. My cuticle oil is playing hide and seek with me :/

17 Dazzle The Night Collection- Swatches and Review

Hey everybody,

I love the Boots' own brand 17 Cosmetics, ever since I first got into make up. I can always remember them doing glow in the dark nail varnish waaaay before anyone else came up with the idea! this is why I always pay particular attention to the new products that 17 brings out. Nostalgia mixed with the excitement of a new product will do that to any beauty junkie!

These nail varnishes known as the 'Dazzle the Night' collection were 17's Christmas offering. AND I LOVE THEM!!! Take a look:-

Glimmer in the Night

Close up shot

Wishing Star

Glimmer in the Night is a darkened slate grey with a mix of heavy and fine silver glitter. In the pictures I am wearing two coats, and its fully opaque at two. Its quite a thirsty polish, so I recommend two layers of top coat to smooth it over. Rimmel have brought out a range called Precious Stones in which there is a similar polish to this. I will review it to see if they are dupes, but at first glance, they are particularly similar. Therefore, I'm not too gutted that this 17 polish is a Limited Edition.

Wishing Star, however, I am going to buy some back up bottles of. Photos do not do it justice. In these pictures you can see that it is a gold iridescent polish, but in certain lights (especially under my light bulbs at home!) it has a yellowy-green glow. I would like to swatch this again, layered on top of another polish, to see if I can tease that green color out some more! Seriously, you need to try this polish.

These polishes are £2.99, and are available from Boots. But be quick, or I'll be snapping up all the Wishing Star!

Barry M Xmas Limited Edition Nail Paints

Hey y'all!

First of all, a super big apology for not blogging in a while. I've kinda made it my New Year resolution to dedicate more time to my little space of the internet!! So for my first post back, I have a real treat!

You may have spotted these four polishes in Boots and Superdrug over the festive period. Barry M were offering a free limited edition nail paint when you spent over £6 on Barry M make up. Easy done, right? Boots' two nail paints were a metallic gold and a metallic pink, whereas Superdrug's two were a metallic teal and a glitter topcoat. Let's take a look:-

Boots Limited Edition Nail Paint 2012-A

Boots Limited Edition Nail Paint 2012-B

Superdrug Limited Edition Nail Paint 2012-A and 2012-B

My favourite combination? Easily the Boots metallic gold with the Superdrug glitter top coat layered on top. That said, I loved all of these nail paints, and I'm gutted they're limited edition! I loved the metallic finish- if you click to enlarge the pictures, you'll see that they're not like the regular Barry M Metallic Foil nail paints. These have a gold fleck in them, making them look like sweet wrappers on the nail! 

The formula on the glitter top coat was fine, I used two coats of it on all of these manis. The metallic nail paints went on quite thick, so just use thin coats or you will experience bubbling. On a separate note, the blue and pink polishes were a pain to get and accurate picture of! Not entirely the polishes' fault, I hate how we in the UK are only getting about six hours of decent sunlight at the moment!

I'd love to read your thoughts on these, and how you painted your nails over New Years!